Strangled Time
by Tsarashi
Summary: An interference in the time stream sends Kagome back even even farther to meet a new adventure. Can she save the life of the one destined for death, or will all of her hard work be in vane? A phone-fic written between breaks at work. (Not KagxInupapa)
1. Chapter 1

(A/n~ This is a test chapter. For this story I'm going to be writing it completely from my phone. I'm not sure how it's going to look once uploaded, if it doesn't look how I hope it does then I'll have to download a new app and try again. Please bear with me for the time being. If all goes well please look forward to more frequent updates on this while I'm in between chapters of Just Instincts.)

Disclaimer: _I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work._

**Strangled Time**

_Chapter 1_

The calm of the night was disrupted by plumes of smoke, rising into the sky from the small castle on the hill to the east of the village. The night air held the sharp sting of a fire just starting to smolder, the untouched huts of the village were dusted with white ash. No one dared leave their homes while the threat of attack lingered. The demon that had attacked was well known throughout the region and no one would risk an encounter. Even if he were dead, as was rumored behind shuttered windows, the villagers feared him still the same.

Even a dead dog had sharp teeth.

There were other rumors floating around the small village. Some said that the Lady Izayoi, the kind princess of the castle, had been killed by the demon before she could bear her child. Others claimed that the young heir was born in the night, only to be killed in cold blood by Takemaru, Izayoi's betrothed. It varied by who people believed the father to be.

It was a shock to the village to learn that their beloved princess was with child out of wedlock but most people forgave her, believing that the child was the product of a forced encounter beyond her control. Though most assumed Takemaru to be the culprit, once the great demon general began being spotted outside the village many changed their opinion. Who else would be heartless enough to do harm to the princess other than the strongest demon of the region? But just because many changed their opinion of Takemaru that didn't mean that his reputation was left unbruised.

He went insane, some said, insane enough to try and take on the wretched demon on his own. Guards were triple posted by the gates that night, the night that Lady Izayoi went into labor. He knew the demon would come. It would be summoned by her pain like some sick leech.

Sure enough he arrived. Warning bells tolled as people scurried to their homes. Nameless guards shouted out and screams rang through the night as they were ripped apart and flung to the side like slips of parchment. A fire raged, threatening to burn the castle to the ground with everyone inside. One last battle cry was heard from within the walls and then all was silent following the cracks of timbers and falling support beams. The battle was short but it could only be assumed by the villagers hiding fearfully in their huts that there were no survivors.

...

Kagome looked down at the metal hairpiece in her hand for what seemed like the hundredth time. Her thumb rubbed over the smooth, aged surface following the contours of the designs that were nearly weathered out of existence. There were two herons dancing within a whirlwind of what could have been snow or flowers on the fan. Along the edge hung tapered metal streamers with dark ceramic beads that were once in a pattern before a few of them were lost with time.

It was one of the things that her mother had given her that day, her 18th birthday. It wasn't quite an heirloom because her father had found it twenty-odd years before and given it to her mother, but it did have several hundred years of history. Kagome's mother had been planning to keep it until her daughter was older, but she figured that Kagome would get more use out of it in the past than the present, what with all of the festivals that she had been going to.

In Inuyasha's time Naraku had started targeting large groups of people as a show of power. So to protect the spider's next move Kagome and the group crashed festivals and celebrations, much to Inuyasha's chagrin, and destroyed any puppets that were hidden within the crowd.

This, of course, left a very disgruntled half demon. Inuyasha wasn't one for large groups of people, let alone large groups of happy humans who were willing to give him odd looks.

He absolutely refused to allow them to stay in any of the villages. So Kagome and the others were forced to sleep in the forest with their extra boxes of formal-wear that they used to blend in.

_'It needs to be repaired,' _The priestess thought again before giving the pin one last spin and wrapping it in cloth. That was something that she would do in the past where she assumed it was cheaper. There were also bound to be more experts for accurate repairs in the past than in the present at the local jewelry shop.

A rap at the window caught her attention. As expected, Inuyasha was kneeling on the edge outside of the closed window. She made it a habit to lock her windows ever since he had accidentally jumped in on her when she was changing a year beforehand. His impatient frown was as prominent as ever as she lifted the latch.

"You're late," he said in his gruff voice.

"I said I'd be back tomorrow," Kagome replied, "you said I could spend my birthday with my family. "

The half demon scowled, crossing his arms as he pushed away her textbooks and sat down on top of her desk. "Well, it's sundown so it's not like you're missing anything exciting. Besides, the Gyoretsu festival is tomorrow and I don't wanna waste precious travel time in the morning waiting for your ass to get through the well. "

Kagome was about to argue with him, but stopped abruptly when she remembered something. "That's right! The Gyoretsu mask festival!" her words continued as she went to dig in her closet. "I found this in the shed the other day. Since I know how much you hate being a Tengu. I figured you could wear this instead. " She turned around holding a bag.

"That's 'cause Tengu are disgusting," Inuyasha complained as he took the bag. The mask that was inside was a smooth ceramic. White with pointed ears and red markings. "Oh, hell no."

"Oh, come on! What's wrong with it?"

"It's a fuckin' fox!" He growled, twisting it around to glare at it in every angle. "Shippo would never let me live that down."

Kagome ripped the mask from his hands. How could she have ever thought that he would appreciate the gesture? "Well at least it's a canine. It's not like there are any dog masks, _apparently _you dogs aren't as memorable as the Kitsune!"

"That's like saying 'sparrow, hawk, whatever, they're both birds.' And who says there ain't no dog masks? Just because you're too stupid to find one don't mean they don't exist."

Before Inuyasha even had time to register that he said something wrong, the priestess lashed out. "Well maybe the reason there aren't any is because there are no more Inu to design them after! Have you ever thought of that? In the three years that I've been in the past I've never seen another Inu aside from you and your brother!"

The half demon went white then quickly became red. "Well I'm sorry for not sitting down with that bastard and chatting it up with him about the clan over a fuckin' cup of tea!"

"Maybe you should sometime!" Kagome countered. "You'd learn something for a change!"

"Right, because I'm stupid." Furious, he kicked her textbooks off the desk and started out the window. "I'm getting you if you're not back by sunrise tomorrow," he grumbled as he disappeared into the evening. Kagome frowned solemnly as she picked up her scattered books and papers one by one.

...

Clouds that threatened rain covered the sky, a dampness hung in the air that made the stench of smoke all the stronger. The fire still burned in small patches on the ground as if it refused to be extinguished. Timbers and burnt shoji paper littered the area. Bodies, both those killed by sword and claw and those killed by the fire were barely recognizable in the rubble.

The only sound or movement was the storming wind that the rustled leaves in the surrounding trees. There appeared to be no life left in that place, but appearances were often deceiving when dealing with demons.

A large timber shifted, one that had been a support beam in the Lady Izayoi's bed chamber no more than an hour earlier. A clawed hand reached up to heft the charred wood away. Bleeding, burnt and battered, the demon that had attacked the castle slowly emerged. He gripped his torn side, his body too weak to heal at it's normal rate. The armor that covered his body was shattered, his haori ripped and covered in black soot.

"Still alive, _mighty_ demon general?" A raspy voice asked between coughs, quietly as if he were far away.

The Inu no Taisho looked up, his melted amber eyes burning with hatred for the human man that stood staggering at the other end of the charred courtyard. "Takemaru," he ground out, his already deep baritone sounding darker and hoarse.

Takemaru held onto the stump that was his left arm. The bleeding had stopped, having been cauterized by the fire. A line of blood was sliding slowly down the side of his face and dripping onto his samurai armor.

If he had the energy the Inu no Taisho would have scoffed. Like a coward Takemaru had fled the demon's last attack at the last second, escaping the full force of the building's collapse. For that he was a disgrace to the human concept that was samurai, but most of all he was a disgrace to any race for killing the woman that he supposedly loved out of jealousy for another. It was as if he believed her to be defective because she was capable of loving the demon lord. It was the same way his eldest son treated him. Was the concept so abstract that both species refused to acknowledge it?

The demon stepped forward with unsteady legs. He had lost so much blood that he could hardly feel his heart in his chest when he knew that it should have been pounding hard. As he closed the distance between himself and the human he growled. "You should have let me kill you quickly."

The young samurai grinned through his heavy panting. His confidence was surprisingly palpable for a human. The Inu no Taisho couldn't help but admit that if things had gone differently he could have been an acceptable ally for human affairs. "If my death would right the wrongs that you've committed, then so be it! As long as I take you with me I can go with honor." Takemaru called out with as much venom as he could muster in his current state. He fell to one knee as pain took hold of him. "Come face me!"

The demon said nothing as he extended his claws and slowly stepped between piles of rubble. His balance wavered but each step, no matter how slow and no matter how painful, got him closer to the man that dared call himself human.

Takemaru's grin widened with each step that the daiyoukai took. He looked like a spider that had dinner in it's sights.

The Inu no Taisho's booted feet crushed embers and stepped over large pillars. In his state the path was more than a few simple obstacles, it was a mountain that separated him from victory. Takemaru was not even a stone toss away. One more step. One more hurdle.

One hurdle too many.

The demon's eyes widened when his foot didn't touch solid ground. At that point thoughts were so far beyond him that he didn't even realize that he was falling into a dark abyss until he was already surrounded by the red light.

The grin on the samurai's face blossomed into a full out smile as he dropped to his hands and peered into the deep hole in the ground before him. "The well that eats the flesh and bones of the damned." He allowed himself to fall to his back as he erupted in mad laughter. "A fitting end for a beast!"

His laughter echoed throughout the courtyard as rain began to fall.

...

With a cardboard kimono box in one hand and her trusty yellow backpack in the other Kagome shut the front door with her heel and started across the shrine courtyard. Small piles of colorful leaves dotted the sidewalk that her grandfather had been sweeping earlier that evening. It felt like autumn had come earlier that year, but in reality Kagome had lost track of a few weeks in the past. Never had the search for Naraku been so draining. It was fun for the first few weeks of going to festivals but after that it started feeling like a chore.

_'One extra day, Inuyasha,' _Kagome thought, _'and you couldn't even give me that.'_

The light of the waxing moon disappeared when she closed the door to the well house behind her. The stairs were as old as ever and probably could have been replaced but the well was as timeless as ever. The priestess ran her fingers over the aged wood, looking within the dark depths.

She brushed down her longer, blue high school uniform before climbing up onto the lip. It was then or never, Kagome sighed. If she waited any longer then Inuyasha would have been in an even worse mood than he already was.

As she has done innumerable times in the past, the young high school student took one foot from the edge and took her leap of faith. Through the portal that had changed her life forever on her fifteenth birthday. Through time and space that led to her destiny.

Though destiny had other plans for her on that particular evening.

Kagome's eyes widened when she wasn't greeted by the calming ripple of blue light that she had come to love over the years. The light that enveloped her was a ruby red and instead of having a cradling tingle like the blue it gave her an uneasy itch.

In vane, Kagome called out the name of the boy that she had fallen in love with over the years, the boy who had been her savior more times than she could count.

But his time was beyond her reach.

**End Chapter 1**

(A/N~ Hey everyone, I hoped you liked reading this first chapter. So, if you did like it or were excited to see my name in your inbox then instantly disappointed that it wasn't Just Instincts that I updated, free to leave a comment and review ^, ^. It's been real!)


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work. _

**Strangled Time**

_Chapter Two_

Kagome felt nervous as she floated through the time portal._ 'It's taking far too long... ' _she thought, shifting the yellow backpack strap on her shoulder to brace for impact. Inuyasha hadn't come when she called, not that she honesty expected him to. He was on the other side, probably waiting for her at Kaede's hut.

What if the well was refusing her passage, the priestess wondered in a panic, even worse, what if something had happened to the well and it would no longer work again?

Her breathing increased and tears came to her eyes as she thought about the possibility of never seeing her friends again. Never laughing with Miroku again. Never talking with Sango again. Never playing with Shippo and Kirara again.

And despite their countless arguments and fits, the thought of never seeing Inuyasha again seemed to hurt the worst.

And jolt ran through her. Frantically Kagome looked around at the fading red light. The first tears ran down her cheeks as her feet lightly touched the ground, as soft as a feather. The landing felt similar to the hundreds of others that the had done over the years, but still something seemed off.

Closing her eyes tight, Kagome waited until she could feel that the red light had completely ebbed away. Then, just to be on the safe side, she waited a few more seconds before tilting her head up and praying that there would be no roof above her. She allowed her eyes to open and an overcast sky greeted her. Ecstatic, the teen fell to her knees, ignoring the puddle she landed in and the shivers that followed a cold breeze.

Her happiness was cut off abruptly when she realized that she wasn't alone at the bottom of the well.

The demon that sat across from her was barely propped up against the wall, his head lay slack on broken armor. Blood pooled around his body, Kagome looked down at the dampness she was kneeling in and confirmed that it was also blood. she went still.

Had the village been attacked? Was this guy a friend or an enemy?

"Inuyasha!" She called out frantically. "_Inuyasha_!" When no response came Kagome felt as if she were still floating. '_This can't be right,' _the thought seared through her, '_He wouldn't fight so close to the village.' _

After placing the box and her pack on a dry spot of earth Kagome searched for her usual hand holds to get out of the well. It took her a moment to get coordinated, she could have sworn that the rope-like vines grew on the opposite wall. Once she had finally pulled herself up to the lip she gasped at the surrounding area.

It was the same open field that she knew to be there, but with vast changes. There was an old, overgrown foundation rotting in the grass. A group of weathered stones peeked through the tree line, headstones if she wasn't mistaken. Small trees stood where she knew large trees to be and large trees stood where she had never seen any trees before. The field was the same one, it had to have been, but yet it was completely new to her.

_'Inuyasha isn't here,' _Kagome gathered calmly, trying her hardest to pull herself together and not completely freak out,_ 'and I'm not actually sure where _here _is... The better question would probably be when... '_

Stepping over foundation rocks and rotted beams, the priestess made it to the other end of the field so that she could look out over the hill to the village below. The village that was much smaller than she remembered and had more trees surrounding it. The tori arch was gone as well as the stairs, in their place was an overgrown stepping stone path that made it's way down the hill at an angle instead of straight.

"I went further into the past..." Kagome spoke aloud as she watched the smoke that rose from chimney holes of huts. She turned around, shell shocked, and made her way back to the well. Her eyes were stinging, but she didn't want to waste the energy it took to cry. When she got to the portal Kagome looked up at the forest and noticed, with an enormous feeling of relief, that the goshinboku was still in it's rightful place.

It was comforting having the sacred tree in the backdrop as if it were capable of keeping her safe from the new dangers of this time period.

Inuyasha wasn't there to protect her from those dangers. In fact, Kagome didn't even know if her favorite half demon even existed in that time. Did anyone she know exist in that time? Was Sesshoumaru even alive yet? Shaking her head to clear it from those thoughts the priestess carefully peeked down the well to see if the bloodied demon was still there.

First things first.

"You'd better be alive!" She called down to his limp form. Jumping into the well was a risk that she wasn't going to take. She had tried that the first time the well stopped working when she didn't have the jewel shards and nearly broken her legs. Despite the fact that the shards still hung around her neck, Kagome didn't want to chance it. Besides, if she just left who would make sure that the guy down there wasn't dead? And if the well was still acting up what if it took her even farther back?

So instead of jumping right in Kagome slowly lowered herself down with the vine that she had used to get up in the first place.

With feet back on solid ground the human girl inched towards the demon, expecting him to jump awake at any moment. Slowly, as if reaching her hand into a nest of hornets, she reached out and touched neck.

His skin was chilled, but there was a faint heartbeat.

Kagome sighed out of relief. "Okay," she said to the unmoving figure, "I'm going to make a deal with you." She gathered her yellow pack from the corner and dug into it for her extensive stock of medical supplies. "I'm going to patch you up because you probably know more about this place than I do. And in return, you're not going to kill me when you wake up.

"Got it?" Her grin was lopsided. "Awesome."

…

Pieces of armor, bits of clothing and bloodied bandages littered the bottom of the well, surrounding the prone form of the tall demon and the priestess tending him. The well was just barely big enough for him to lay on his back from corner to corner. It took Kagome more than twenty minutes to get him there, but it was easier than trying to fix him up while he was slumped up against a wall.

His wound to his side was deep, possibly life threatening. Especially because it didn't seem to be healing. Even Inuyasha's wounds healed quickly, sometimes she could practically see the flesh knitting together while she was bandaging him. Even the stranger's superficial wounds, the scrapes to his face and arms, weren't healing.

Kagome dipped her rag into the ramen cup that she had filled with water in the nearby brook and brushed away silver bangs to wipe at the deep scratch on the demon's forehead. She was shocked at first when she fully saw his face after moving him, silver hair was fairly common among various breeds of demons but his markings and facial features nearly confirmed that he was related to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru in some way. An uncle or cousin perhaps?

Although it was completely possible that he was not blood related to them, but was in the same clan. Besides, that _was_ her first time seeing another dog demon aside from the half brothers so anything was possible. _'I wonder if his eyes are gold too.' _Kagome thought to herself as she tapped one of his sickly pale blue markings.

It was amazing how soft the markings were and the fact that they wrapped up his arms and down to his hips was intriguing. The markings on his legs wrapped around them as well, but she didn't look to see where they ended beyond where she had cut off his hakama. Briefly she wondered if Sesshoumaru's markings were the same way. _'Neat.'_

When she realized that she was lightly petting the cheek marking with the tip of her finger the way you would a small kitten she jerked her hand away. "Sorry!" Kagome apologized aloud to the unconscious man and then felt instantly foolish. It wasn't as if he could hear her.

In fact, he was completely dead to the world. He didn't even jerk when she pricked him with her emergency sewing needle. Which meant that she was utterly alone.

Somehow, the priestess grimaced at her patient, it was going to be a very long few days.

…

After night fell Kagome found herself wearing her fleece pajamas and tucked comfortably into her bed roll beside the lip of the well. The demon had yet to show any signs of life besides some faint breathing, but, considering the fact that she couldn't even noticed that he was breathing hours earlier, it was progress.

After running around all afternoon, the teen was glad to have the chance to finally lay down and get some shuteye. Her muscles ached and her head was throbbing. However, she was deeply grateful that working with Inuyasha's various wounds throughout the years had kept her from becoming nauseous.

Just as she was reciting a list of things that she had to do the next morning in her head, Kagome felt something hit the tip of her nose.

Then there was another one on her cheek, and another on her forehead. Then suddenly rain was coming down in that way that warned you that it would down pour in less than a minute.

Kagome pulled her waterproof bedroll over her head and sighed. Then, after a few moments, a thought came to her. _'He's a sitting duck.' _her eyes shot open and she sprang up. The bedroll put up a good fight, even caused her to trip in the grass before she was finally out of it. _'He's going to drown!' _The voice in her head screamed at her.

The rain was coming down in sheets by the time she had started running towards the forest, changed her mind to run halfway back to her backpack and changed her mind again to run into the treeline.

She returned with four of the rounded headstones which she took in return for an apology, saying her thanks and a little prayer. They rolled next to the well as she threw them to search in her bag. When she emerged Kagome had a picnic sheet in her hands which she quickly shook open and secured in place over the well with the rocks.

Finished, the priestess looked from her handiwork to her drenched clothing and hair.

There was no way that she would have been able to sleep outside on a cold, rainy autumn night wearing wet clothes. It would have been asking for a cold or pneumonia. Frankly, she didn't have the time to get sick in a strange time with a strange demon who was already out for the count.

Making up her mind, Kagome sighed as she pushed her bag through the improvised tarp and let it fall into an unoccupied corner of the well. Then she herself climbed under the tarp, reaching blindly for a hand hold or a vine.

She didn't even get a quarter of a way into the well when the rain slick walls caused her to lose her grip and fall onto the damp blood and water mixture on the floor. At least her head was cushioned by the demon's gut, though she hoped that she didn't land on his wound.

Before Kagome passed out from the combination of the pain from the fall and her fatigue from the day she realized with a sad acceptance that the well hadn't worked for her.

She was stuck in a new past.

**End Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work. _

**Strangled Time **

_Chapter Three_

Morning came quickly. Too quickly if Kagome had anything to say about it. The sun had forced her awake and when she looked up she was greeted by a pink sky with small white diamonds. Confusion filled the priestess as she stared at the candy colored sky. She blinked. Her eyebrows furrowed. Seconds passed, and then a minute, until finally she realized that she was staring at her picnic sheet that was being illuminated by the sun.

And aching back brought her attention to a good sized bruise that was made from a rock she had landed and apparently slept on the entire night. But aside from that, much to her relief, she was unharmed.

However, Kagome couldn't say as much for her patient.

By the amount of dried blood that matted the back of her hair, the priestess could pretty much assume how much blood he had lost when she had reopened his wound in the fall. Frantically she turned and placed her head on his chest to feel for any breathing. Much to her surprise his breathing had actually improved since the day before. He even seemed to be healing. '_Well, not exactly. But the bleeding stopped.'_

Taking that as a good sign, Kagome stretched as best she could without hurting herself and got to her feet.

She had been planning on changing his bandages first thing in the morning, and they were considerably filthy, but her priorities changed after seeing the state of the well. Blood was mixed with mud, attracting flies and worms to the dampness. The priestess nearly gagged at the stench that was only made worse by the warming sun.

"I don't know If demons can get infections..." Kagome started as she kicked the pile that was once his clothing. "But I don't really want to take a chance."

The well walls had dried in the night, but it was still difficult for her to climb with her new bruises and her heavy, damp fleece pajamas that were caked to her back with mud. Were they even worth trying to salvage? A sneeze nearly made her fall from the wall a second time, but Kagome clung to the vine for dear life.

A short walk to the stream cleared her thoughts and senses while the cold water that she quickly washed in chased away any lingering tiredness. Then, once she was ready to seize the day, Kagome started back to the well and down the rabbit hole to change into fresh clothing.

Kagome's trusty yellow backpack had tipped over into a bloody puddle during the night causing most of her clothes, which were at the bottom, to be soiled. Luckily the food and extra bandages were untouched. The only other things that she had to wear were the yukatas which was safe and dry within their box. Though, if she really took the time to think about it, it was probably for the best that she didn't stick out in that new era. When she had first arrived in Inuyasha's time period her uniform had caused her to be mistaken for a demon and almost killed.

A glance at the unconscious man proved that he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon, but just in case she tossed her shirt at him to hide his face after peeling it off.

...

The trip to the village went far better than she had expected. In her duller black yukata that was covered with white triangular shaped flowers she fit right in with the locals. Though she didn't bother putting her hair up, so she still got an odd looks or two and the occasional comment about her being from out of town.

Two stops for directions later and the priestess found herself outside a blacksmith's workshop. "Excuse me," She pushed away the curtain, "I was looking for a hoe or a spade. Something small and easy to carry?"

The smith looked up from attaching a handle to a farming implement that Kagome didn't know the name of. He frowned for a second before his lips twisted into a wry smile. "Out on errand for your husband?" He kept talking, not giving her the chance to reply. "Times are rough, it's understandable. As long as he ain't got your pretty hands out workin' the fields too. A fine woman should be taken well care of." The burly man shook his head and looked away from her. He gestured to a wall that had tools leaning against it. "You'll find what you need over there."

Kagome stepped over to the wall once the man got back to his task, her cheeks colored a light pink. The assumptions that people in the past jumped to amazed her. But, she easily admitted to herself, she much preferred being mistaken as a housewife than a powerful priestess. The lack of obligation made her heart feel light.

The feeling, even just a glimpse of it, helped her to understand how Kikyou had felt when she was alive. That bliss of normality.

The wall had tools in all shapes and sizes, most of which were for farming, some were for other purposes, but some of them were weapons. Modified sickles, spears and monk's spades. Her eyes lingered on the length of a monks spade, a small shovel on one end and a sharp blade on the other. She was slightly tempted to get it because it was two things that she needed in one, but not only did the priestess not know how to use a staff weapon but the thought of getting it down the well wasn't exactly safe.

"As I said," Kagome jumped when she heard the deep voice of the smith directly next to her, "Times are rough." Handing her a small, pickaxe shaped spade, he brought her attention away from the weapons. "That should do the trick."

The priestess smiled and twisted the handle in her hands. "Thanks, um... "

"Saburo."

"Saburo," Kagome repeated, testing the name on her tongue. "Well, Saburo, thanks and... uh... " The words trailed away as she dug in her sleeve and took out a small string of coins. It was her emergency money for Inuyasha's time since they had been spending more time in villages, but she figured that her situation counted as an emergency. "Do you take mon?"

The smith's dark eyes widened after looking at the coin that she had handed to him. He flipped other over a few times. "I've never seen a real one before, only counterfeits." Quickly he held back his words and when he was looking back at her he sobered immensely. "My lady," he threw in a bow as an afterthought, "I apologize for any overly forward remarks that I said." Saburo stumbled over the formalities. "I can't accept that coin, er, that is too much for such a small tool, is there anything else that you may need?"

Startled, Kagome took a step back and waved her hands frantically. "I'm not part of the upper class, you can just call me Kagome." She stuttered and hid the rest of the coins in her sleeve. Apparently inflation was different there than in the time she was accustomed to. "I don't have anything else... could you put it towards a credit?"

The blank look that he gave her was comical, Kagome pressed the coin back into his hand. She had more coins, spending only one wasn't any loss in the least. "I'll give you this now and I'll come back here when I need something else, alright? That way everyone's happy."

A few seconds passed before Saburo closed his hand around the metal disk. With his free hand he rubbed at the short bristles on his wide chin and smiled sheepishly. "Do you know what you might need so that I may have it ready for you, Miss Kagome?"

Let glance at the wall of weapons and the priestess had already made up her mind. "I'm going to need arrows, and a bow if you know where I can get one."

His eyes widened at the odd female.

...

The walk back to the well was uneventful, the people chattered as they milled about but hardly anyone gave her a second glance. the sun was midway to its zenith and the streets were far more crowded than when she had arrived. More people meant that it was easier to overlook her. Not a single person asked her about her nationally or home village because for the first time, if no one looked at her close enough to see her blue eyes, she actually seemed to fit in.

The overgrown path to the well was sleek from the rain of the night before and she nearly slipped when she heard an eerie cry.

The sound was unmistakable. Not only had it been one of the first demons that she had encountered in the past, but they had frequented most of the old battlefields that she and the group had come across.

"Carrion crows!" Kagome yelled as she rushed into the clearing with several small rocks that she had grabbed along the way. Just as expected, several of the large birds were perched on the brim of the portal. Their red eyes focusing between the new threat and the potential dinner that they could smell beneath the tarp.

"Get out of here you nasty scavengers! He isn't dead yet!"

The stones in her hands glowed and cracked with her power, the birds focused on her. With one more threat the priestess chucked the rocks, hoping that they would hit their mark. Two of the rocks made contact, burning holes into the lesser demons' flesh as they fled. Kagome gagged at the rotten smell they left behind.

...

The small spade worked perfectly in the practically nonexistent free space in the well. She was even able to fit it in her sleeve to get down the vine. Kagome had started by turning over the dirt at the bottom, burying the blood under the mud in search of dry soil. It would have gone a lot faster if she could have just purified the blood.

After several long minutes of grueling work she stopped, she stared at the scoop and then nearly hit her head. She was perfectly capable of doing just that. It was no bow, but if she could purify a couple rocks then why couldn't she do the same to her little shovel? Using the spade as a conduit to channel her powers, the priestess began to dig again, each scoop being purified of blood and impurities.

That was a wonderful thing about demon blood. She could make it disappear.

When one corner of the well was clear Kagome was forced to spin the unconscious demon until she was able to reach the next corner. That pattern went on for about an hour until he was back where he started and the only place that she hadn't reached was directly beneath his back.

"Alright," Kagome started, her voice falling on deaf ears. "I moved you from the wall, so I can put you back."

The teen wasn't as weak as she looked, and after years of shard hunting in the past her strength was well deserved, but she still wasn't nearly as strong as Sango and it was rather difficult for her to move the demon. Especially because he was at least a head taller than Inuyasha and had a bulkier build.

Now, she wasn't one to call Inuyasha scrawny, but against that guy it was a good comparison. Heck! That guy made _Sesshoumaru _seem downright dainty.

With her arms under his Kagome dragged him up and tried her hardest to position him against the wall. A growl-like moan resonated against the stone walls, Kagome dropped her patient who landed partially propped up at an uncomfortable looking angle.

She fell to her knees in front of him, looking for more signs of life. Her eyes grew as she watched his clawed hand creep up to grasp and pick unsuccessfully at the bandages that she had wrapped around his abdomen and chest.

"Hey, hey, hey," the priestess chided, carefully reaching out and pushing his hand away. The sharp claws glinted lazily and she was pretty sure that he didn't have the energy to even cut paper. "You'll rip your gash open again. You've already lost a lot of blood, almost all of it judging by the pond I just cleaned up." When his muscles tensed and his fingers started to twist around her wrist Kagome added, "I've dealt with treating difficult demons before and if you don't chill out and let me help you out, I'll have to make you."

After her threat, as empty as it was, his body fell slack and Kagome could see that his chest was once again falling and rising in a steady rhythm. He was asleep. Better than being passed out in a pool of blood and better than trying to kill her but still worse than she would have preferred.

"Now," Kagome continued as if he could still hear her, as if he had even been listening to her just moments before, "Let me just finish this one spot and then I'll gladly change your bandages."

...

The air was cold by the time night fell. The summer kimono felt lighter than it actually was and goosebumps covered her arms with each draft that ran through the hollow space.

Her bed roll had ripped against one of the headstones during the storm the night before, leaving it's non-waterproof polyester and cotton fill open to the elements. Not even the autumn sun had been able to dry it all the way. At least all of the clothes that were in her bag had dried.

After Kagome had taken the chance that it wouldn't rain and placed the picnic sheet at the floor of the well, all she had left to sleep with were a few spare tee shirts, her school skirt and two yukatas. She didn't even bother trying to wash her ruined pajamas and they were laying in a heap somewhere by the stream.

Wearing one yukata and using the other as a blanket seemed to be her best way to stay warm that night, but it didn't seem to be warm enough. At least her bag made for a comfortable pillow.

The demon hadn't moved since the late morning but, she happy accepted, it was probably for the best. If he was anything like Inuyasha then he wouldn't even give his wounds time to think about healing before running off and making them worse. That possibility was definitely something that she was actually worried about, because as far as she could tell his wound still hadn't started to heal at the normal rate.

Kagome glared at the demon's feet, her modesty forced her to sleep head to foot beside the demon with a good distance between them. Already he was beginning to be more of a hassle than she signed up for. She would have felt horrible if he died in her care, but she was still blind to how he would receive her when he woke. What if he held the same strength of animosity that Sesshoumaru had for humans when they had met for the first time? In his state she would probably be able to fend off his attacks, but then she would be left alone in that strange time.

_'But until he wakes up,' _Kagome thought as she pushed away from the chilly rock wall and scooted closer to the older demon so that there was still a few centimeters of space separating them, _'I'm just going to steal a little of his mighty demon body heat.'_

**End Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work. _

**Strangled Time **

_Chapter Four _

The warmth of the sun kissed Kagome's cheek as the light stretched into the depths of the magic well that she was calling camp. It felt good to wake up on dry ground, the priestess mentally praised her idea of lining the floor with the tarp. Despite having slept on the hard earth she was surprisingly comfortable.

_'Five more minutes,' _she promised herself as she inched closer to the warm blockade beside her. Groggy confusion filled her tired mind when the wall shifted. She really wasn't a very coherent morning person.

"You're awake," a deep voice stated slowly, uneasily. The baritones reverberated against the aged stone.

Kagome's eyes shot open in a moment of clarity and she sprang to her knees and scurried as far away from the demon as she could. When her back hit the stone wall she put her hand on her rapidly beating heart and tried to settle her breathing. '_You scared the crap out of me!' _Kagome yelled at him in her head.

"That's... what I should be saying." The hairs on her arms prickled when she thought of her prone sleeping body being near touching the, now conscious and possibly quite powerful, strange demon. "When did you wake up?"

The demon was still on his back, eyes closed, but his clawed hand clung to his wounded side. He seemed like he was conscious of his breathing, focusing on it to keep it steady. Three breaths passed before he answered her. "...Sunrise."

Kagome looked up at the sky and wished that she had the convenience of a watch. "So, about an hour ago," she said to no one in particular, trying to fill the empty, awkward feeling that seemed to linger in the air. For the past few days she had cleaned his wounds and dragged him around like a bloody rag doll, but she hadn't exactly thought of what she would say to him once he woke up.

The priestess glanced around before her eyes fell on his hand. Without really thinking, she leaned forward and swatted it away from the bandages that were just beginning to blossom with red. "Your bleeding just started to stop. If you open it again I'm not going to bother wrapping you up." Kagome scowled at him as she reached for the yellow backpack.

A strangely amused rumble filled the air, causing Kagome to stop pulling various unorganized medical supplies from her pack. A look at her patient nearly confirmed that the sound came from him, a tight smirk lingered at the corner of his lips. "Feisty, for a human," he said.

Kagome turned scarlet and was about to retaliate when his eyes opened and trapped her in a molten gaze. They held the warmth of Inuyasha's as well as the sharpness of Sesshoumaru's. Where Inuyasha's eyes were a deep amber and Sesshoumaru's eyes were a frigid yellow-gold, that demon's were what Kagome believed the brothers' colors would look like if they were melted down and mixed together.

It was intense to the point of being a bit nerve wracking.

Kagome cleared her throat and looked away from his scrutiny. "You're not dead yet," she said as she slowly pulled off his bandages, letting them tug at the skin like a stuck band-aid. She found a bit of satisfaction in the fact that the muscles in his face tightened, a telltale sign that he was holding back a wince. "You can probably thank me for that. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me 'human,' it isn't exactly a flattering nickname."

"Then what is your name?"

Kagome froze in her task and glanced at his face, his eyes were closed again. "Ka-Kagome," she stuttered. The priestess smiled and continued to unravel the roll of fabric that had been binding his largest wound. "You're the first demon to ask."

Silence passed between them, Kagome assumed that he had fallen back asleep before he proved her wrong by speaking. Though his voice seemed far away again."Togashimaru."

She blinked. "Wha- oh! That's your name? Togashimaru?" When she got no response Kagome didn't even need to look to see that he was indeed unconscious. It was amazing that he had even awoken with amount of blood he had lost, she wouldn't judge him for resting and recuperating when he so obviously needed it. She softened her touch as she switched to a clean bandage and started wrapping. "It's nice to meet you."

...

"Saburo?" Kagome called as she pushed away the curtain to the blacksmith's shop. "Are you in here?"

The smith looked up from his smoldering kiln and grinned at the young girl. She was the first woman to step foot in his shop and already she had graced him with her presence twice. Stepping away from the fire pit he wiped sweat off his brow and reached back to tie his long black hair back into a low tail. "I just picked up the bow this morning from a friend a few blocks over. I'm no woodworker, but I'd say he does a pretty fair job." Saburo grabbed a longbow and filled quiver that was leaning against the wall of tools. "The draw isn't very heavy, but I'm sure your husband could tweak it to his liking."

The priestess took the bow from him and threw the quiver over her shoulder. "Oh, I'm not married," she said sheepishly as she drew back on the drawstring to see if she was strong enough. It pulled back and her drawing hand rested on her cheek with ease. "This is for me."

Saburo's lopsided grin widened after he got over his initial shock of seeing a woman handle a weapon with a grace that only came with experience. "I didn't want to assume," he started, "but I figured that was the case. You've got this air about you, like some warrior priestess."

Kagome laughed awkwardly as she gently released the tension in the string, making sure not to dry fire the bow. "Yeah, something like that."

He laughed heartily. "Never thought I'd ever meet one! Well, miss Kagome, is there any other way I could be of service?"

Kagome looked him over, from his sandal clad feet to his tied back sleeves that revealed his tone arms that were several shades tanner than her own skin. "Actually, there is something... since you're about the same size."

...

"I thought you said you weren't married." Saburo said, feigning regret, as he scratched at the bristles on his chin. The two humans walked side by side down the wide roads of the small village textile district. Only three or four shops lined the road, but Kagome knew that it would eventually flourish into the huge various shopping districts of Tokyo.

Kagome paused to look at a simple looking fabric hanging from a stall. "I'm not. He's just some guy I'm taking care of. He was practically dead when I found him."

"Attacked by a demon?" The smith asked, slowing when she slowed. He watched her with an honest curiosity that rivals Shippo's.

The priestess stopped fingering an ornately weaved silk to look up at the man who stood over a head taller than her. "Actually, I don't know. I haven't had time to ask. He was pretty mauled though, so it's likely."

Saburo frowned and started to the next stall. "They're not as active around here as they were since the castle burned, but they're still out there."

"You mean the castle on the hill?" Kagome asked, recalling the foundation that littered the area around the well. It was certainly big enough to be considered a castle. A nod from the tall man confirmed her suspicions. His eyebrows were furrowed, she noticed, it made his dark eyes look even darker. "Do you think demons are evil?"

His sigh was long and drawn out. "I don't think evil is the right way to put it. They do what they do because it's in their nature. But I guess some are evil. The ones that kill just to kill." He frowned and looked at her. "You're a priestess, right? What do you think?"

_'I'm not your average priestess.'_ Kagome thought before responding to his question. "I think think it's a long cycle of hate between both species that makes them think that the other is evil or worthless. But I don't think they're all evil. There are just as many evil humans as there are evil demons, and there is a lot of miss-communication in between."

A warm smile grew on his lips. "You are a _very_ interesting woman."

Flustered, Kagome reached for a few men's yukatas and pushed them into the blacksmith's arms. "Could you try these on? If they fit you, they'll fit him."

...

Togashimaru looked at his clawed hand and flexed it slowly. His vision had been blurred upon awaking, but it was gradually becoming clearer as the day went by. His hearing was all but useless, not even the chirping of birds could reach him where he sat upright in a corner of the well. He assumed his sense of smell was hindered as well, because there was a great lack of smoke in the air. Not even a week of rain could completely wash away that scent of ashes and blood.

The demon could smell blood, but only his own, the recent stains to his bandages from when he moved. There wasn't even a lingering scent to the place where the oddly excitable human, Kagome, had said she cleaned.

But if his nose was correct, telling him that it was early fall, there was a stream nearby and that Kagome had the tingling scent of one with somewhat dormant powers of purity, then there were only two logical explanations.

Either the well he had fallen in had transported him to this new well in a different location, or he had been unconscious at the bottom for more than a few months.

He was determined to find out as soon as he were able to get himself _out _of the well. Until then he resigned himself to stay under the care of the human girl.

She had to have been the same age as Izayoi, the demon thought when he had seen her more clearly than when he had first woken. She had the same will and lack of fear that made Izayoi so intriguing, but she lacked the princess' more reserved qualities that made her easy to fall in love with.

Regardless, finding any human who was willing to nurse him to health was like finding a diamond lying at the bottom of a stream bed.

The demon general's thoughts turned to Izayoi for the fifteenth time since Kagome had left. She was safe, he had made sure of that. And his son...

"Inuyasha." Togashimaru tested out the name on his tongue. It was a name he had chosen months prior, but just like with his first son saying his name was something that never ceased to amaze him. Even when Sesshoumaru grew to be cold and aloof like his mother, the fact that he was alive was what Togashimaru's considered to be one of his greatest accomplishments.

No matter what they grew up to be like, he was already proud of his son, his _two _sons.

The once mighty demon rested his head against cold stone and closed his eyes. There was only one missing piece to the pattern.

'_Takemaru.' _Togashimaru wouldn't allow himself to rest peacefully knowing that there was a possibility of that disgraced samurai still being alive. Long fingers curled into a fist and long, sharp claws cut at the flesh if his palms. Blood dripped down his forearm.

"Don't you think of getting blood on that new yukata!" A shrill voice called from above. When he opened his eyes he could see the human girl leaning over the lip of the well, freshly caught rabbits in one hand and a bow in the other. "Those cost me _two _mon!"

Togashimaru growled under his breath, his anger and hatred for the vile human barely hidden by a veil of calm and acceptance. "I wouldn't dream of it."

**End Chapter **

**Tsarashi's Math Quiz! : **_If the hypotenuse of the well is one Toga long, what is the perimeter of the well in terms of Togas? _


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work. _

**Strangled Time **

_Chapter Five_

"Swords?" Kagome asked as she picked the last pieces of meat off of her roasted rabbit. She sat in the corner opposite to the one that Togashimaru had claimed, her legs crossed in front of her. "No, you didn't have any on you when I found you. Only the armor. I kept it if you want it, it's in a pile right outside the well." She frowned and bit apart a strip of the salty meat. "Though, it probably won't do you any good. It's kind of in pieces."

_'And heavy,' _she added in her head. '_Don't you ask me to bring it back down. I almost dropped it on you the first time.' _

Togashimaru stared at his mostly untouched rabbit as if it were going to answer all of his questions better than the human girl did. So'unga had been in his hand before the collapse of the building, it was probably lost within the rubble. He couldn't for the life of him remember if the other two were at his hip when he had fallen down the well.

None of those swords were something that should be just lying around. Those powers in the wrong hands could throw the entire world into chaos. The demon sighed. He needed to trust that his retainers had taken care of them for him, no matter how useless they seemed to others, he believed in their ability to complete tasks that he asked of them.

Myoga had been with him before he reached the castle gates. Perhaps the flea assumed him dead.

The demon general reached up slowly to rub his temples. His joints were still tight and every movement sent sharp bolts of pain racing down his limbs to his wounds. Five days. That was how long he had been trapped in fierce combat with Ryukotsusei while the dragon's clan attacked his lands before he was able to reach Izayoi's castle.

Even one stronger than himself would have been worn to the bone after such a grueling battle. And that would have been if they had gotten away unwounded. It was no doubt a miracle that he was still alive. Togashimaru had gone to Izayoi fully expecting that battle to be his last.

The priestess took a long look at him. "I can buy you a sword if you really think you'll need one," she said slowly, trying to get the attention of the demon who was suddenly lost in thought. "It wouldn't be a demon sword, just a regular katana. But it'd probably be good to have some sort of protection when you're still down for the count."

Togashimaru looked up at her, his thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion before raising into his bangs. "You know of demon swords?"

Kagome blinked. "Yeah," she started, a grin growing on her face. "When you spend as much time with demons, half demons and demon slayers as I have, you learn a lot." When she saw that she had his complete, undivided attention she continued. "Like, I know that you are a dog demon. You are healing much slower than you should be. Your markings mean that you are either of a noble clan, are capable of poisonous attacks, or both. And that you're not eating much because I accidentally burnt the meat and it's killing your taste buds, but you're too honorable to turn it down because you feel you owe me something."

With an almost indistinguishable grunt, the demon set down the charred meat. He was quiet for a few moments as he took long, steady breaths through his nose. Finally, he looked at her. "You are a human in your early adult years. You have the powers of a priestess, though never formally trained, otherwise we wouldn't be having a conversation." His eyes moved to the yellow backpack. "You are not from this area, your accent and mannerisms tell of a more... relaxed culture. And you've been fighting alongside your friends for many years, but you stay towards the sidelines because you tend to more of a hindrance than anything else in direct combat."

He looked back at Kagome, entertained by the redness that colored her cheeks. "Your easiness with strange demons has undoubtedly been your downfall on countless occasions. Though you make up for it with medical knowledge and I assume many beings owe you their lives."

Kagome's flush of anger slipped into one of modesty. "I do what I can." After patching up everything from wolves to priests after their battles, it was heartwarming to think that she made a difference. She smiled warmly at the memories of her friends as they recovered and became their lively selves again.

"You are easily pleased." Togashimaru added to his list as he studied her expressions.

The priestess looked up at him and her smile grew. "It makes the hard times easier and keeps long days interesting."

His lip quirked. "I'll keep that in mind."

...

Togashimaru stared at the strange object. It sat unmoving, tempting, in the corner next to him. Aside from the autumn clouds that drifted slowly above him, the unnecessarily large and offensively colored pack was his only visual entertainment. He wondered what kind of society created such an intricate bag. He wondered how long it must have taken the artisan to make the stitching so perfect. He wondered how the latches worked.

But above all he wondered what was in it.

The demon had seen the human girl take things out of it while digging for the items she sought, but never had the contents been emptied completely. Perhaps it was a bag of demon origin that could hold items unnumbered.

Foods, cooking utensils, medical supplies and odd clothing were a few of the things that she had pulled from the bag. Most of the others were foreign objects that he was unable to identify.

He listened. Birds chipped above the well, but he couldn't hear beyond them. He scented the air. The girl was gone, her trail not yet beginning to grow cold. She wasn't due back for some time, presuming it took her as long as it did on her first hunting trek.

He eyed the yellow backpack.

...

The stream was the same one that she had bathed in countless times over the years, the only real difference being that it was much smaller. A wide brook ran through the land where one day a small pond would keep. The waterfall in the distance seemed mostly the same, but Kagome noticed that the peeks of the cliff seemed taller.

_'Maybe an earthquake is going to cause a landslide between now and then.' _She looked back to the water directly in front of her. '_That would probably create a pond.'_

Kagome dug her toes into the moss that coated the rock she was that standing on. One wrong move and she would have been neck deep in water. As she caught a glimpse of a shadow within the depths of the water her hand pulled back on the waxed string of her longbow until her fingers rested on her cheek. Her breathing calmed and her hands steadied from years of experience as she aimed at the small target.

The priestess waited for the perfect moment to strike. The water rippled against the rock, her prey moved with the current. '_Now,' _she thoughtwith excitement. Her fingers loosened and the shaft was released, it plunged into the water with a small splash.

The silhouette of the fish darted away as the arrow skimmed it's tail and collided with a rock. Kagome's excitement quickly faded to disappointment as the broken wood of the arrow shafts floated to the surface and started drifting away.

A rustle from the trees startled her. Kagome fumbled for another arrow from her quiver as she turned, almost loosing her balance on the stepping stone. Her heart raced as the rustling came again. Bears weren't that common so close to the village in the time she was used to, but the village was smaller and less threatening in that new era.

A gruff voice laughed. "You are never going to catch a fish with such a technique."

Kagome awkwardly gathered her composure and greeted the fisherman.

...

"Hey, I've got lunch!" Kagome exclaimed as she sauntered into the clearing, trout hung from a twig in her hands. "Well, technically it'd be dinner now, wouldn't it?"

The priestess peered into the well. "Want it cooked or-?" She was cut off by a growl. Not a low, weak, harmless growl, but one that made shivers run down her spine and her hands stand on end.

Togashimaru looked up at her with angry eyes, his smooth blue markings were beginning to fray. "Where did you get this?" He asked, holding out the metal hairpiece in his hands. His claws wrapped around it protectively.

"What do you me- My _mother _gave that to me." Her eyes wandered to the mess at the bottom of the well. It looked like a puppy had gotten into the garbage, but instead of banana peels and wrappers on the floor it was her textbooks, socks and underwear. Her face turned red. "You went through my bag!?"

"Where did your mother get it?"

"I don't know! My father gave it to her!" Kagome ground out as she whipped away from the well and stalked toward her fire pit. "I can't believe you just went through my bag!"

Togashimaru's voice was muffled from the pit where he was stuck. "Where did your father get-"

The priestess didn't give him the time to finish his question. "You didn't even ask! I would have been totally cool if you wanted to look at some stuff. But no, you just wanted to rummage through it like an animal!"

The demon was quiet for a moment, his frustration was evident. Kagome could hear him breathing through his teeth to keep from yelling at her. Finally he tried again to get his query across. "How did something that I gave-"

Kagome interrupted him once again. "I'm not saying anything to you until you pick up my stuff." The teen dug her dull nails into her palms and jabbed at the warm coals with her shoe. "So don't both asking." She could have sworn that she heard him grind his teeth, but she didn't care. It was totally rude for a stranger to rummage through someone's things, Kagome thought, it didn't matter how powerful or noble they were.

He was just as bad as Inuyasha.

...

Kagome blinked lazily at the forest in front of her. It didn't seem like it would rain, so she took up her place at the top of the well, comfortable inside her dried bedroll. Her bag sat beside her, freshly reorganized. The night was quiet and calm, an owl hooted in the distance. But Kagome was too curious to sleep.

She turned around so that she was facing the weathered wood of the well. The demon was still sitting below, she didn't know if he was ever planning on laying down. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha both rested upright, so it wasn't that unbelievable that Togashimaru would as well. It would have been awkward to sleep beside him, even after she had apologized, fed him and continued packing where he left off.

"Hey, you awake?" She asked, knowing that he was but hoping that he would answer anyway.

Sounds of shifting fabrics came from below. It was quiet for a bit and Kagome completely excepted that he wouldn't say anything. Then, finally, he said, "I am."

Relief filled her. The fear that he would turn out to have a personality similar to Sesshoumaru disappeared completely. "Well, you said that you bought a hair piece identical to mine a couple months ago, right?"

"I did."

There was a good possibility that it was the same one but from a different time, but the priestess didn't want to mention that just yet. "Who did you buy it for?"

He didn't even hesitate. "The woman I love."

Kagome was taken aback by his blunt response. If he were any of the other men that she was acquainted with they would have changed the subject or beaten around the bush. She smiled, knowing that he must have loved her a lot. "What's her name?"

This time he did pause before answering. For some reason he deemed her safe to tell or worthy of knowing. "Izayoi," he said, his voice caressing the name like an unspoken promise.

Kagome hummed, it was a pretty name. Though, somehow she felt as if she had heard it before. She thought back, sifting through memories of the previous years until finally it hit her. She froze. It was a name that hadn't been said since her first few months of time traveling. It was a name that was associated with adoration by Inuyasha and hatred by Sesshoumaru.

She bit her lip before finally gathering up the courage to ask, "Is... she human?"

His answer seemed to take forever, but when it came it made her blood run cold.

"She is."

**End Chapter**

(A/N~ Hey everyone! I wanted to thank you all for your comments and favorites, please continue to do so! It makes my heart skip a beat every time I get a review, and, since I don't have a boyfriend, hearing your feedback fills that special gap in my life. I'm currently making a cover photo for this story, but I'm not putting a date to when I'll be releasing it yet. Since I procrastinate... a lot.)


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work. _

**Strangled Time **

_Chapter Six_

Kagome dunked her head under the cascading waterfall. The water was getting colder with each passing day and soon enough she would be forced to find a hot spring to bathe in. Being in the water was usually calming to the priestess, but with all of the thoughts that she had running through her head it was almost impossible to relax.

Leaned against the rocks that were behind the small falls, Kagome watched the sheet of water as it flowed over her body and splashed out wherever it met one of her more prominent curves. It was almost hypnotic.

"He's their dad." She said out loud to the empty forest that surrounded the brook. Her voice cracked a bit when she said it. Rays of light filtered through the trees, still tinged by the pink sunrise. "He's actually their father... So the swords he mentioned were probably Tetsusigua, Tenseiga and Sou'unga..."

Suddenly she reached her arms up, laced her fingers hard through her hair and screamed through her teeth.

"What am I doing!?" Kagome asked herself, resisting the urge to hit her head against the rock behind her. "What if I do something wrong!? What if I change something really important?" She splashed the water in irritation.

_'What if it affects Inuyasha?' _

Slowly the priestess sank into the water. She knew that her best course of action would have been to simply walk away, to leave things as they were and try to figure out what was wrong with the well on her own. To leave him as he was.

Stuck at the bottom on a well.

Kagome exhaled through closed lips, causing bubbles to rise to the surface of the water. Even if she wanted to the time traveler knew that she would be able to bring herself to leave him to fend for himself. Besides, knowing exactly who he was made her want to leave his side even less. It was an opportunity that Inuyasha himself never got the chance to have and she's didn't want to completely waste that. There was so much she's could learn from Togashimaru and she had so many questions.

However, none of those questions were as important as the one eating at her thoughts: would her being there with Inuyasha's father affect the time stream in any way?

Gasping for breath Kagome broke through the surface of the water and scrambled to the shoreline where her yellow pack sat waiting with a towel on top. As soon as the fabric was wrapped around her body, shielding her nakedness from the bite of the morning air, her arms were elbow deep in her bag. It took pulling out two text books and a box of colored pencils before she found the book she was looking for. Though not a book for school, the small text had taught her a lot about the fictional concepts of time travel.

She flipped through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. Several different paradox theories were listed on the pages, but only one of them were highlighted. Kagome skipped over the Butterfly Effect and the Grandfather Paradox and several others before her hand came to rest on the neon yellow colored words.

The Predestination Paradox.

It was the one that Kagome thought made the most sense about her travels through time because her future didn't seem to change at all with as much as she had influenced the past. Kagome ran her fingers through her tangled wet hair. No matter how perfectly that paradox fit into the puzzle, she secretly hoped that it was different in this new past. Because if it wasn't it could have only meant one thing.

Togashimaru was still going to die.

...

At the other end of Edo, back at the well, Togashimaru was having a different dilemma. His frustrations stemmed from something much simpler than the workings of temporal paradoxes. The demon was bored and his curiosity of what awaited him above the well was growing by the hour.

The priestess had left the moment the sun had risen over the distant mountains with a clipped explanation, stating that she was going to the stream. Her voice had risen to unnatural tones, which was strange but not enough to cause him concern. He didn't know the little human well enough to know whether or not that sort of thing was normal for her.

Her pack was moved the night before, so that was no longer a source of entertainment. But even if it was down there with him he wouldn't have touched it again without the girl's permission. It was her property and he was wrong to have gone through it the day before.

Or at least he was wrong to have not put everything back before she had returned. He could have saved himself the trouble of getting the human upset. Perhaps then he would have gotten the answers that he desired.

Togashimaru scowled as he pulled the long hair pin from where he had hidden it in his sleeve. It was the very piece that he had given his human mistress shortly into their relationship, yet it was aged. The same two herons danced around the fan shaped plate, but they were weathered and lacking the details that had originally caught his eye. Parts of it were even missing. He had trouble wrapping his mind around how it was even possible. There were no humans skilled enough to create an identical replica and no demon could do it without fox magic, yet there was no residue of demonic energy surrounding it.

The demon general slowly shifted his eyes from there tarnished metal to the brown on the vines that the human girl had been using to get in and out of the wretched well. He knew that one of the answers that he sought was a simple climb away.

Knowing full well that he was probably going to do more harm to his already battered body than good, Togashimaru reached forward and gave the vine a test tug. Even if it meant having to be lectured by the priestess who would undoubtedly have to re-bandage his wounds, he had his mind set on getting out of that enclosed space.

It wasn't just about getting out of the well, it was about learning the extent of his predicament.

His patience only stretched so far.

...

The sun was halfway to it's peek by the time the demon had completely gotten out of the well. The little priestess made the climb appear so simple, the demon had thought. Though of course, she hadn't been working with dizzying blood loss and a gaping hole to her side. The poison that was most likely still coursing through his veins, a parting gift from Ryukotsusei, probably wasn't helping his cause.

The dragon's poison explained why his usually rapid healing process had come to an abrupt standstill. Unlike his mate and son, the great general did not have a poison of his own or the immunity that coincided with the ability. The priestess had been correct in stating that his markings were that of position as well warnings of poison, but more often than not only one of those applied to the demon in question, his eldest son being an exception.

Much like a harmless butterfly that mimicked the markings of it's deadly brethren to ward off unwanted enemies, over the generations some of the noble demon lineages have changed in much the same way.

Togashimaru was not even able to take two steps before he crashed to his hands and knees. He was unsure as to whether it was from his own weakness or the shock of the sight layed out in the open space before him.

_'How long have I been unconscious?' _he asked himself, honestly not wanting to know the answer. If he had been at the bottom of the well for as long as it took beams to rot and grass to grow tall where there had never been grass before then he surely would have died before Kagome had appeared.

"What's going on!?" A voice mimicked his own thoughts. Togashimaru looked up, his molten gaze meeting the priestess who was frantically running towards him. He knew she wouldn't have been pleased with his decision.

The girl seemed much smaller in the wide open field compared to the cramped well. Especially when she closed the distance between them and pressed her hands against his wound that had tore open and was once again bleeding profusely. "Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed, Toga!?"

Ignoring the girl's screeching, the demon looked down at her hands before covering one of them with his own. It certainly was small. The blood that covered those hands didn't suit them, it suited his that were stronger and more menacing. He curled his fingers around hers so that his sharp claws were brushing her palms.

Kagome had calluses. Izayoi didn't have calluses. Suddenly he looked up at her face, confused as if just realizing that she had spoken. "Toga?" He asked, wondering if she had actually called him that or if it was just a figment of his imagination.

"Togashimaru?" She repeated, not getting much more response out of him. "You're totally out of it... Don't you dare pass out, there's no way I'm letting you die from something so stupid!"

...

The pages of the textbook that Kagome was reading fluttered as a breeze passed through the clearing. It was difficult to focus on the words as they shivered with the wind, but she wasn't exactly paying complete attention to them anyhow. With a movement too measured to be natural, the priestess turned a page. She peering up through her bangs at her companion as she did so. He was still sitting against the well with his back to her, staring out over the field.

He was incoherent when she had changed his bandages earlier, his wound was almost as bad as it was when she had first found him and she was forced to waste more cloth to clean it completely. When he had come to he hadn't spoken, not even when she had helped him to his current seat.

Kagome was worried about the demon.

Her book lay forgotten on her lap as she stared at him. He had the same broad shoulders that Inuyasha had, only on a larger scale. Though after seeing his father she was almost positive that her favorite half demon wasn't finished growing. The way he held himself, even when injured, was far more regal than Inuyasha could ever be and that was definitely something that Sesshoumaru had inherited. But there were some things that were uniquely Togashimaru's, such as the way he treated her like an equal from the moment they met. Sure that might change by the time he was back to full strength, but she appreciated regardless.

She knew that there were other things that made him _him, _she just needed discover them.

"How long have it been since the fall of the castle?"

Kagome startled at his voice, fully expecting that he caught her staring but when she looked up his focus was still on the foundation. Taken aback by his question the priestess took a brief look around at the weathered rubble and nearly nonexistent, blackened wood. "I have no clue," she admitted to him. "It had to be a couple years ago, I mean, judging by what's left."

The demon general crane his neck to look over his shoulder at her, a bewildered expression on his face. "Years?" Her asked before closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath. "Yes, that is the conclusion that I've come to as well."

The futuristic teen watched in confusion as the demon looked away once more. It was as if he was somehow hoping for a different answer. Kagome scowled and looked down at the book that was cradled on her legs. Words pertaining to the workings of time practically jumped off the pages and slapped her in the face. She sucked in a quick breath, feeling like an idiot because it took her so long to realize what the problem was.

If only Miroku was there. He was excellent at reading people and would have probably figured it out an hour before she did.

Hesitantly Kagome closed the cover of her book with a dull thud. "Togashimaru?" She addressed him in a small voice. When he looked back over his shoulder at her she continued. "Do you believe in... time travel?"

His eyes widened and he spun back to the field, wincing as he tugged at his bandages. "It would explain much. But is such a thing even possible?"

"Oh, trust me," Kagome replied, relieved that she finally pinpointed the source of his brooding. "It definitely is."

**End Chapter**

(A/N~ Hey everyone! I'm sorry that this update took a while. College just started up again so I'm going to school and working full time! It's a heavy load but I'll still find time for you guys, I promise. To make up for it a little bit I'm going to have a little **Q&A session** with everyone! Every question that is asked in the reviews between now and the time I post the next chapter will be answered at the end of chapter 7. It can be about anything and I will answer it to the best of my ability!)


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the_

_main characters within this _

_fabrication. Their rightful owner _

_is Rumiko Takahashi. Please support _

_the official work._

**Strangled Time**

_Chapter Seven_

Warm, over-steeped tea felt good in the chilled weather and Kagome was glad that she didn't turn down Saburo's offer to treat her. The tall blacksmith sat beside her on the wooden bench, the clay teacup seemed small in his hands but he held it as if it were a bird. The priestess silently sipped her tea as she watched him from the corner of her eye. His long hair, which she came to noticed he preferred loose, was tied up in a tight top knot.

He had tried his hardest to look like anything but a blacksmith.

"Fifteen years." Saburo's deep voice cut through their comfortable silence. It was the answer to the question that she had originally sought him out for. "That is how long it has been since the fall of the castle. Though sometimes it feels much shorter."

Kagome leaned back against the wooden wall of the tea shop and looked up at the hill in the distance. The castle would have been overlooking the village from there, though most of it would have been hidden by trees. "Fifteen? That's not too bad. What happened to it anyway?"

He paused to study her for a moment, as if wondering if it were proper to tell her. He smiled and shook his head when he remembered that it was Kagome he was speaking with. With any other woman talk of battle or death was inappropriate. But Kagome wasn't any other woman.

She was special.

"A crazed demon attacked. He was after the Lady of the castle." A quiet woman refilled their cups without interrupting their conversation before disappearing back into the shop. "Her father, the Lord of the castle, and her betrothed had sent for many of the village's men to protect it." Finally he looked away from her to stare at the leaves spinning in his cup. "Those who didn't die by the hand of the demon were killed in the fire."

"No one survived at all?"

Their eyes met and Saburo's stern expression was suddenly marred by a lopsided grin. "Not unless you believe in rumors."

...

"It is possible?" the demon said as he looked down at the strange collection of parchment that was bound in a material similar to wood that Kagome had left at his side.

_"It definitely is." _That's what the little priestess had said to him before explaining to him about her own experiences with time travel.

Togashimaru had replayed her words through his head time and time again since she left to the village. He searched for something that didn't fit, something that would have proven her words to be lie or the rantings of the mentally ill. But each thing she had said rang with a crisp truth that hurt him more than when Ryukotsusei had run his clawed hand through his side instead of agreeing to the terms of their treaty.

She was from the future, approximately seven hundred years into the future. That explained her odd mannerisms, and the strange items and unrecognizable clothing that he had found in her bag. It also explained why the hair pin had aged, since she explained that she had received it in her own time.

For the past few years she had been going through time between her future and her past, which was five hundred years before her future. Kagome believed that she had been sent over two hundred years _further _into the past, whereas he was sent several years forward.

Why it had happened was beyond the both of them.

Again Togashimaru looked down at what Kagome had referred to as a 'hardcover textbook' and flipped it open to stare at the words that littered the pages. The writing was astonishing, so small and precise. Yet he couldn't wrap his mind around how it could have been made. The text itself, however, was practicality another language.

Many of the characters he could vaguely recognize, though they were not as detailed as the writing he was used to. Some of the characters were completely new to him or didn't make sense in context as he knew them. The rest of the print he recognized as women's script, which he had never bothered to learn and was never formally taught as a child.

His mother might have allowed it, but his strict calligraphy teacher would have had nothing of it.

But still, he was able to understand a very basic idea of what the book was trying to explain. Time was complex and even in the future nobody truly knew how it worked. Ideas from different scholars were thrown back and forth, sometimes stating similar beliefs, sometimes without showing any real parallels at all. None of them seemed to have a first hand experience on the matter. The only person who had previous experience was Kagome.

Therefore her words were the only ones that he could take as truth.

It was going to take a bit of time for the demon to get used to the idea of relying on a young girl. Though, after seeing how capable the priestess was despite having been displaced from her familiar eras, he knew that she would go above and beyond his expectations.

Setting aside the text, Togashimaru looked over to the edge of the hill just as Kagome became visible. Even from that distance he could tell that her eyebrows were scrunched and she was deep in thought.

That changed the moment that she saw him. Her entire face seemed to light up with an excitement that was near completely genuine, but not quite. In her hands was a parchment that was tied with twine around something that smelled sweet and sticky.

...

Empty skewers from sweet dumplings lay forgotten on the ground beside the duo. The priestess watched the demon closely as he took in her words. His elbow was resting on his knee and his hand was holding his chin.

It wasn't too difficult to tell what he was thinking. Though, Kagome admitted, he was slightly better as hiding his emotions than Inuyasha, but still far from having the emotionally frigid demeanor of Sesshoumaru.

His eyebrows pulled down as he looked at the rubble, then up again as he peered at her through the corner of his eye. Curiosity and frustration battled for dominance behind molten amber. The demon's nose twitched as he took in her scent, but the corner of his lips turned down slightly when he found no answer to his question.

Kagome let out a sigh as he looked away from her again to stare out at the field. "He could be off by one or two years," she decided to say in hopes that he would say something about it. "He really couldn't tell me much, since he was just a kid at the time. I could go ask one of the older shop owners if there's anything else you want to know."

She had left out the rumor that Izayoi was still alive and living in another village. If Togashimaru was anything like every other demon that she had ever met, then he would head out to find her before Kagome was even done talking. If he did that he would have been endangering himself as well as leaving her on her own.

It felt bad to hold such an important thing back from him, and she knew that she was partially doing it for selfish reasons, but she argued that it was for his own good.

Togashimaru turned to look at her, his eyes burning with an emotion that she couldn't quite place. She needed to bite her tongue to keep from telling him.

"How many years have you been alive?"

Kagome blinked, startled by how seemingly random his question was. "Seven- er, I just turned eighteen."

Gold widened to the size of the dumplings that they had just eaten and the priestess was almost positive that she saw his eyes dilate.

He didn't even give her time to ask any questions before he was speaking again. "In fifteen years you will be thirty three years old, is that old for a human? How long is the average human lifespan?"

A gust of wind swept past them, carrying with it several fallen leaves that had just changed colors. Kagome didn't know whether she was more shocked to learn that he didn't know anything about a human's aging process, or that the emotion on his face was fear.

It was unnerving to see a full demon have such a strong emotional response.

"Don't you think that would have been important to know before you started dating a human?!" The teen asked in a fluster, the words tumbling out before she had the chance to stop them. She practicality had to yell over the wind even though she knew fully well that he could have heard her.

Kagome clamped her hands over her mouth. The words continued to flow from behind her little barrier of shame in a pathetic attempt to right the wrong. "I mean, assuming you guys are already going out. I don't even know how long you've known her for. I'm not trying to say that you didn't care about it, not that it should even make a difference! Love knows no bounds, right-?"

Togashimaru ground his teeth together. "Would you answer the question?"

Kagome shut up. She would have felt intimidated by his harsh tone if he hadn't let his fear show through his irritation. Instead she felt a surge of sympathy; his fears struck her closer to home than she cared to admit. Even Inuyasha didn't know how long he could live for, he was already two hundred and fifty three years old.

She could be dead before he was even fully grown.

Not wanting to antagonize him any more, the priestess let out the breath she was holding and attempted to reel in her nerves. "In my time, thirty three is considered to be an adult, but is still kind of young. People still have kids well into their thirties,"

She paused, trying to remember how it was different in the feudal era. "Back home the average life span is about ninety... But in the past it's much harder for people to live that long. The oldest person I've ever seen is in her sixties. So, thirty would probably be considered middle aged around this era."

Togashimaru was silent for the longest time following her explanation. As the bearer of bad news, Kagome had a hard time looking at him. His emotions seemed to reset into a blank slate as he looked up at the sky. One by one they came back to grace his features until finally his lips turned up into a tragic grin.

"Perhaps that is why humans are so passionate, because they only have a moment to live," the demon turned to look at her. Kagome couldn't help but blush at the intensity of his stare.

"How old are you, Togashimaru?" She asked sheepishly, almost afraid to hear the answer. Logic stated that a half demon would live half as long as their full demon counterpart, right?

His gaze didn't lessen as the words slipped from his lips, as graceful as silk. "I have been alive for four thousand, five hundred and twelve winters.

The stronger a demon is, the longer they live."

...

Kagome shivered, the small fire that burned in front of her did little to combat the chill that had overcome her after learning her companion's true age.

He had lived longer than modern society itself. She didn't even know how that could have been possible. He was a living relic, his knowledge could have stretched far beyond the limits of her imagination. Yet he had been sheltered enough to be blind to the years of humans.

The priestess had tried to imagine falling in love with a being that had practically lived longer than time itself, but her thoughts kept wandering back to Inuyasha. If he were human he would have been around seventeen years old, with time left to grow and mature. In that regard she was already older than him, and she would only continue to age as he seemed to stay the same. Perhaps he would even be fully grown by the time she was her grandfather's age.

But she had already known about that to an extent. She had anticipated something similar to happen.

It was the thought of falling in love with a full demon that already held the experiences of hundreds of humans that scared her. What if Inuyasha had been born a full demon, would she still be able to love him all the same?

But he wasn't a full demon thanks to Togashimaru and thanks to Izayoi.

Kagome hated to admit it, but she was starting to feel envious of the human princess. She must have known that Togashimaru was so much older than herself, yet her love was pure enough to overcome that. Kagome wished that she could see Togashimaru through Izayoi's eyes, at least for a moment. Did Izayoi have worries as well?

Kagome frowned as she poured hot water from her kettle into two ramen bowls; she hadn't felt like hunting.

The teen stood up and walked over to the demon who was sitting silently next to her bag. She placed the foam cup next to him. "It's not ready yet, you'll have to let it sit for a few minutes."

Togashimaru looked up at her, he looked exhausted. They looked at each other in silence for a few moments until Kagome turn to walk back to the fire.

"Thank you," she heard him say from behind her.

Kagome paused. She had a feeling that he wasn't talking about the food. Carefully she peeked over her shoulder to look at him, but he seemed to be studying the sky. "For what?" She's asked when she realized that he wasn't planning on saying anything further.

The demon shifted his eyes from the blue of the sky to the blue of her eyes. The hues of the sky shimmered reflectivity in his hair as the wind blew it about, making it look like water. Kagome couldn't help but believe that all of the gods of Japanese folklore were actually real, but they weren't really gods, simply demons that looked like they could be.

His voice was quiet. "For not leaving."

The priestess blinked in confusion before it finally made sense to her. He thought that she was so shocked to learn that he was powerful and potentially deadly that she was going to run away from him in fright.

But she had already known that. He was Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father after all.

A warm smile blossomed on her lips. "I didn't even consider it."

**End Chapter**

(A/N~ Hey everyone! Updates are probably going to take as much time as this one did. I never realized that working and going to school at the same time was so draining. Well, as promised, I'm here to answer your questions!)

**Q&A:**

**Warning:**

There may be a few little spoilers, if you don't want to be spoiled then feel free to skip this part.

...

**Q: Is the name Toga going to stick? **

**A: **It is! But not for several more chapters.

* * *

**Q: Has the world changed by Kagome being there?**

**A: **Not in the slightest! The wheel weaves as the wheel wills.

* * *

**Q: Is Togashimaru going to think she is crazy if she tells him her story?**

**A: **The exact opposite, actually. He's a pretty logical thinker and the idea that she is a time traveler means that he isn't crazy. About his boys, however, I'll leave that for a future chapter.

* * *

**Q: Who will get [with] Kag? **(Correct me if that question is wrong)

**A: **Nobody! Well, technically Inuyasha. There is going to be little to no romance within this story, aside from Saburo's potential little crush.

* * *

**Q: How long do you thing this story'll be, in terms of chapters or time?**

**A: **It really depends on how the chapters play out, sometimes I'll separate the ideas of one chapter into two because my hands wanted to write more than I had planned. Time is even iffier, considering my lack of it. But in story it is going to be only about a month or two for them. Once they leave the village it should speed up pretty quickly.

* * *

**I added one question that I know a few people where wondering since it won't be explained in story.**

**Q: Where did the swords go?**

**A: **Myouga, Totosai and Saya found all of his swords in the rubble directly after the battle in the movie, so they fell off in battle. (You ever notice how it didn't show them finding his body? ~Skeptic Tsarashi~)

* * *

That's all for now! If you liked this chapter, please tell me about it!


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